Chapter Eight: Religion’s Song
When humanity swallowed the seeds of deception, allowing bitter notes and twisted lyrics to take root within, the result was a demonic melody of fear playing through our collective souls. Suddenly, verses of death and destruction were brought into the world. The original song of creation—with DNA as its greatest instrument—quickly became corrupted.
In this next verse, we see the effects of this problem as the Shulamite responds to God’s kiss with rejection. Yet again, the Genesis story is being remixed. Like Adam and Eve, the Shulamite hides in the bushes of shame, the sound of fear blocking her ability to discern the voice of love.
6 Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
Songs 1:6
She declares once more that she is “dark” and attributes it to the heat of the sun.
Typically, the sun is a good symbol as it points to the light of God, but here we find that her work under the sun’s glory has caused darkness to grow in her life. This happened, she says, as she worked out in her mother’s sons’ vineyards…
Getting Our Bearings
We come to the first turning point of the song. Before we go further, let’s stop for a moment to get our bearings, remembering what we’ve learned thus far. God’s word is a treasure map leading to revelation, that hidden currency of heaven that unlocks our destiny and inheritance. God’s “word” encompasses all creation and all scripture.
As we’ve searched this larger map of the word, we found the Song of Songs to be a key place holding its highest treasures. This is partly because the word of God is like a fractal image where the whole picture can be found within its smallest parts. The Song of Songs, a small and seemingly unimportant part of the Bible, holds the message of the entire book (and even all of creation, down to the strings that make it up).
Since we’ve found this X on the map, now we must dig through the book’s symbols in order to tap into its hidden riches. That means figuring out what the people and objects in the poem represent. We already know the Shulamite symbolizes humanity and the Shepherd King is a metaphor for God. The sought-after kiss represents the word of God’s deep and affirming love, which is also to say it is “the Spirit of truth.” Indeed, the Spirit releases in our hearts the blessing of our true identity in the Father’s love (see Romans 8:15-16).
Now we come to another symbol—the “mother” of the story. For this, we will pull back and look again at the larger map of scripture so as to interpret its meaning. We don’t want to be like some who pull allegorical meanings out of their hat as they claim divine revelation. Instead, we will utilize other parts of the map to witness and testify to each symbol’s unique meaning.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take much Bible knowledge to figure out this one out. There are three ways to understand the mother, and each of them overlap. In the New Testament, the redeemed people of God, both Jew and Gentile, are compared to a “mother” (see Galatians 4:26). In this way, the larger church is the mother of the Song.
However, we can go back further into scripture and see how the mother image relates directly to the nation of Israel. It was out of the womb of Israel that the Messiah (and his church) were “birthed.”
But we can go back even further to find the mother relating to the one who is named the mother of all the living… Eve.
Putting this all together, we find the mother represents the family of God. Hence, working out in the vineyards can represent the place of serving God and his people.
But it is in this part of the song where we find the Shulamite is burnt out, literally. She’s engaged in good works but to the neglect of her own soul’s flourishing. This speaks to religious labor, whether Christian, Jewish, or the many religious expressions that Eve’s sons (her “mother’s sons”) have laid upon the backs of those seeking inner peace. This continues to parallel the Genesis narrative and the idea that man’s religious efforts were birthed at the Tree of Knowledge.
Obviously, we’re not referring to the pure kind of religion mentioned in the book of James where we care for the marginalized and abandoned, treating them according to their original blessing in the Father. Rather, this is a religion built on that first lie of separation, darkness, and dualism. It speaks to the larger system of fear influencing all Abrahamic religions, as well as those that went further east, setting people on a broken path to fix a broken identity.
In one form or another, the spiritual systems of this world hold a common belief regarding an inner darkness that is a seemingly undefeatable force. All of them, even parts of religious Christianity, put people on a quest to “die to self,” teaching that death is the only path to find freedom (whether metaphorically or literally). No matter what walk of life we come from, all of us have found ourselves impacted by this inner belief that drives humanity into a laborious life of seeking inward relief.
It is in this place of weariness that the Shulamite cries out to her Creator. Though she is still blinded to the kiss of truth being offered to her, she knows enough to ask for help.
7 Won’t you tell me, lover of my soul,
where do you feed your flock?
Where do you lead your beloved ones
to rest in the heat of the day?
Why should I be like a veiled woman
as I wander among the flocks of your shepherds?
(Songs 1:7 TPT)
So great is her desire for true rest. She longs to return to the words of Genesis 1 where we were called “very good.” This was the seventh day of creation which came right after we were quickened to life and met with those eyes of complete acceptance and delight.
But what must she do is the question. What “work” does it take to get back there? What self-help module does she need to follow? What mantra or discipline of the mind must she manifest in order to find this return?
Such are the questions on the heart of a very tired human race.
Wanting rest but not knowing the way, the Shulamite makes quite the illuminating statement. Her words unlock the next piece of the puzzle in this treasure map as we dig deeper into its heavenly storehouse. Look at them again:
…Why should I be like a veiled woman
as I wander among the flocks of your shepherds?
Chapter Nine: The Harlot
Some years after my initial trip to Asia, I returned to another country nearby to meet up with a group of people carrying a vision of seeing God’s original blessing reawakened in that part of the world. For all the beauty of this continent, a giant stain is smeared across its terrain in the form of human trafficking. It is one of the great distortions of life’s original melody, reaching its loudest volume in places that embrace a low view of humanity. Its tentacles certainly touch the whole world, but the nations steeped in the most ancient forms of dualism seem to attract its viral touch the most.
A big part of the trip involved dealing with resistance in the atmosphere to the true music of grace. We sometimes call this intercession. It’s the divine partnership between heaven and earth where the simple act of prayer goes out like arrows of light piercing the clouds hanging over people and places. Our focus was to prepare the ground of people’s hearts to receive the hope-filled message others would be trained to bring to them over the coming months and years.
One of our prayer assignments involved a walk through the local red-light district. While there, I passed by a young woman who was sitting directly across from her pimp, presenting herself to all who passed by. As I walked through this broken archway of the trafficked and trafficker, I caught eyes with the woman and saw a heartbreaking glimmer of fear hiding behind her gaze.
Today, in places like this, women are presented openly, scantily dressed, yet in the days of Solomon a woman would put a veil over her face as the advertisement for her services. This is why the Shulamite says she doesn’t want to be like “a veiled woman wandering among the flocks.” Many commentators believe she is comparing her current position to that of an ancient prostitute who covered her face and wandered through city streets in search of clients.
It’s of great importance that we discuss this symbol of the veiled woman, for it unlocks our deepest problem. It also sets the course for the Shulamite to overcome what is blocking the kiss of God from reaching the depths of her being.
The Mystery of the Harlot
First of all, a person’s face speaks to their identity. From the shape and color of the eyes to the finer details of the complexion, our face sets us apart from everyone else. A dark veil covering someone’s face is thus a vivid picture of the true self being hidden behind deception.
But the meaning of this symbol comes into full bloom when we consider what prostitution is. A prostitute is someone who engages in an act of “love” through payment. A union occurs, but only by way of paying for it—or earning it.
In other words, it’s a metaphor for the broken and religious ways of man. Like paying a prostitute for an experience that is supposed to come through a covenant of love, religion tries to buy its way into union. This is due to the first lie that blinded (veiled) our eyes from seeing the fellowship and union we already had through our original blessing in God. The harlotry of self-effort was released into humanity as we desperately tried to secure this blessing in our own strength. In this false pursuit, we came into a veiled identity as we lost sight both of God and ourselves.
The scriptural image of a prostitute is loaded with these undertones. Conversely, a bride represents something completely different. It speaks to true and covenantal love. It’s a metaphor for a union of the most pure and complete kind.
We mentioned earlier how the whole of scripture is contained within the fragment of this poem. Amazingly, when we pull back and look at the crescendo of the entire Bible, everything leads to the opposing imagery of these two different women—a prostitute and a bride. There we learn that the larger word of God’s creation is building toward a great conflict between these realities, one of which will be burned with everlasting fire while the other will shine out through endless ages (Revelation 17 – 22).
Under its shadows, prostitution is pursuing what marriage was meant to give, yet it seeks it through paying clients who leave the next day. The Shulamite sees the emptiness of this. As a result, she doesn’t want to wander like such a woman “among the flocks.”
Flocks of sheep speak to the many gatherings of people in all kinds of spiritual pursuits. The “wandering” speaks to a lack of direction. And so, the Shulamite no longer wants to pursue the embrace of union and acceptance by wandering around and paying for it with blood, sweat, and tears (and maybe some money too). Instead, she wants to find rest from the heat of her labor. She longs for true peace.
And though she doesn’t understand it yet, she is also searching for the meaning of her name…
Two Names Intertwined
In the Passion Translation, a powerful note is highlighted regarding the names of the two main characters of the story—the Shulamite and King Solomon. Incredibly, these two names come from the same root word … shalom … the Hebrew term for peace, perfection, and wholeness.
And there’s more to this, for “Shulamite” is the feminine version of this root word. “Solomon” on the other hand is masculine. This is significant because throughout scripture the human soul—which the Shulamite represents—is referred to with feminine language. Meanwhile, God is mostly referred to with male verbiage.
Obviously, male and female are both equally contained within humanity and God. However, there’s something about the human soul that specifically corresponds to God like female to male. The “female” representation of humanity and the “male” representation of God is describing a mystery higher and more beautiful than any of our social orders or gender stereotypes.
We are the Lord’s “soulmate” in the truest definition of that term. We come from God and are made to return to him, like the depiction in Genesis where Eve is created out of the depths of Adam but then returns to him in covenantal love as a life partner.
The Big Picture
Let’s take a moment to tie this together. In the story, the Shulamite is at first a picture of a veiled human race. She is a symbol of all the world’s engagement with false forms of love, where we wander in pointless efforts at attaining divine union.
Because of this, the Shulamite not only represents the human soul, but she specifically showcases the soul’s journey of being unveiled. This unveiling will happen as she learns to let go of the lies stemming back to that dualistic Tree of Knowledge. In other words, she must leave behind the dark melody of religion and learn to retune her heart (“repent” you might say) to the music of grace. She must learn the way of the selah.
This veil of which we speak is the number one problem in our world. Whether in small breakdowns of relationships, or entire industries of literal sex trafficking, this veil works as a locked door over the minds of humanity, keeping us in fruitless systems that provide only false senses of relief and pleasure.
Thankfully, there is a key that splits this veil in two and opens wide the door of the souls. As that door opens, we find the Holy of Holies within. Unleashed is the precious gift of our original blessing, emerging like water as it sings its way over the dry riverbed of our lives.
We will now find the King answering the Shulamite’s desire to return to her original blessing. He does this by leading her to only place it can be found.
Chapter Ten: The Table
As we embark on this royal calling to dig through God’s word and unearth its treasures, a surprising twist has come. We’ve discovered, early on, that the answer to everything our souls seek already lies within. And yet, there is something blocking our ability to tap into it. A veil dark, cold, and ancient lies plastered over the mind.
And this veil requires a reckoning.
This reckoning, however, is not one of destructive wrath—at least not in the way people have typically understood such terms. The reckoning needed for this veil comes in a strange and unique form … a kiss.
Yes, the world of fairy tales witnesses to a greater reality. It turns out that true love’s kiss is what breaks the spell of a heavy sleep covering the eyes of humanity.
We will now follow the Shulamite on her own journey of waking up as she learns to receive this divine kiss for herself. In the beginning of the journey, she’s learning to listen to the voice of God. She’s starting to follow the Good Shepherd, and his first set of instructions involve bringing her to another strange place.
Before we get there though, let’s look at the word of advice he gives to her at the onset of the journey:
“Follow in the footsteps of the flock, and feed your little goats,” says the Shepherd King (Song 1:8).
Right away, God gives an encouragement to stay connected with spiritual community and to continue looking for ways to take care of those around her. Oftentimes, the wisdom we seek comes in the midst of community and serving. Though a religious element needs to be burnt away from her life, the Lord does not call the Shulamite to abandon all forms of connection with the “flocks” around her. Such words are reminiscent of something found much later in scripture:
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:24-25
With this word of wisdom established, she is then ushered into the only place where freedom is found:
12 As the king surrounded me at his table,
the sweet fragrance of spikenard
awakened the night.
Song 1:12 TPT
The Shepherd King has led her to a table—his table.
Now, if this King truly represents Jesus, the one who is also called the Lamb of God, then there is only one way to understand this next symbol—it is the table of the Lamb.
Or, as many refer to it, the communion table.
This is the place where we encounter the greatest expression of love to ever appear on the earth…
The Release of Divine Blood
Most readers will be familiar with the act of communion where bread and wine are administered in some form or another, the bread being his broken body and wine his shed blood. As we eat, we are partaking of a mystery that culminated on a Roman cross 2000 years ago. There, Jesus Christ was crucified by the political and spiritual leaders of his day. It was there that Jesus poured out his blood and, in the words of the apostle Paul, claimed our “redemption” (Colossians 1:14).
Now, the foundation of human blood is the substance we discussed earlier—DNA. Our finely tuned universe allows this remarkable spiraling ladder of life to exist. It turns out, this substance is a bridge between heaven and earth, for the Creator literally stepped down this ladder to enter the physical realm. God the Son took on human flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus was woven together in the womb of a Jewish girl named Mary. He was born with a beating heart just like the rest of us and, with breath in his lungs, went on to tell his followers that he was giving his life for the world (Mark 10:45). Speaking to people who were familiar with the ancient words of Moses, they would know the reality that “life is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11).
Communion brings us back to this moment when Jesus completed this act, pouring out the pinnacle of creation—DNA—on the soil of our broken planet. He did this to rescue us and bring us back to the original music of creation.
There are many who argue about the meaning of all this. Indeed, there are countless denominations and groups who specifically argue about the purpose and method of communion itself. But even though we’ve made quite a mess of the conversation, there is a pure seed of truth across the universal body of believers who recognize that Jesus’s death is, somehow, a gateway into life.
This, of course, isn’t that strange when we consider the very testimony of creation. Our breath and DNA is only possible because of elements born from the violent death of stars. In the wake of their explosion, the elements necessary for life emerge. In the same way, the death of the Son releases what is necessary for us to experience true life—everlasting life.
This is what the Bible calls an act of redemption. This is an old term typically meaning to buy something back. Something that once belonged to you could be redeemed, but only if you pay the proper price. In biblical times (and still today), something could only be redeemed with something else of like value. You couldn’t use a couple shekels to redeem an entire plot of land that once belonged to your family. You had to pay the full price of that land to get it back.
Jesus’s apostles declared that Jesus paid the full price of our redemption by pouring out his blood. This unveils something astounding about humanity and the blood that courses through our own veins. Our redemption price was the sacred DNA of God himself! Just pause and consider that for a moment. This means we are of like value to God.
In other words, Jesus’s blood reveals the divine value of our lives.
This is one glorious aspect of his death, that Christ poured out his DNA to redeem our true identity. However, there is something else as well. Jesus’s death was described as a demonstration (see Romans 5:6-8). He specifically demonstrated a love for us that was bigger than our raging unbelief and rebellion.
In his coming, Jesus took on the full brunt of human deception. He stood against the height of wickedness as he faced the twin forces man’s religion and politics. Yet he absorbed the wrath of these forces with open arms of mercy. At the height of evil’s plot against him, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
This act demonstrated that no matter how entrenched we are with the discord of evil, there are open arms welcoming us back to our true family and origin!
Yes, Jesus’s blood brings us back into the arms of the Trinity. There is no better place to explain this incredible mystery than in the words found a few verses before what we just read earlier in Hebrews. Pay particular attention to the final sentence of this passage, for this will lead us back to the Shulamite’s journey.
19 And now we are brothers and sisters in God’s family because of the blood of Jesus, and he welcomes us to come into the most holy sanctuary in the heavenly realm—boldly and without hesitation. 20 For he has dedicated a new, life-giving way for us to approach God. For just as the veil was torn in two, Jesus’ body was torn open to give us free and fresh access to him!
Hebrews 10:19-20 TPT
It is this “life-giving way” that the King-Shepherd is leading his seeking Shulamite. He is taking her down the only road a person can experience true freedom from the veil covering our lives and robbing our DNA of its destiny.
Chapter Eleven: Torn Down
By poetry, prophecy, and proverb, we find the scriptures comparing humanity’s deepest problem to a prostitute wearing a dark veil. Thankfully, in the passage we just read, good news has invaded the scene. Jesus’s death firmly dealt with this lying veil. In fact, at the moment of his passing, an actual “veil” inside the temple of Jerusalem was torn in half!
45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last.
Luke 23:45-46
Right as Jesus was giving his last breath for the world, the veil that covered the innermost room of the temple, the most sacred site in all Israel, was cut right down the middle.
This brings us back to our original blessing. Here we see the One who gave that first blast of breath to quicken Adam from the dust (Genesis 2:7). This was the kiss that birthed humanity into life. Now, at the cross, our Creator was exhaling once again, releasing breath in order to awaken us from the dust of our sleep—the spiritual blindness covering our eyes like the veil of someone to whom payment is given to experience union.
A little bit of history is important here. The temple of Jerusalem was at the center of Israel’s faith. It was designed after the original temple built by the same man who wrote the Song of Songs. Solomon, the one who linguistically “built” the Shulamite, is the same person who built the temple. Accordingly, both the Shulamite and the temple represent the same thing—humanity.
Solomon’s temple had three parts to it—the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. This corresponds to human beings who are described as having three main parts—body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The body is the Outer Court of our being. Just as the Outer Court of the temple was exposed to outside elements, so are our bodies. This is what everyone sees when they look at us.
The Holy Place, however, was hidden. This speaks to the next layer our of being, the soul, the seat of our personality, emotions, and will.
And yet deeper within the temple was the Holy of Holies, the place that housed the most important part of the entire structure—the Ark of the Covenant.
This was the very throne of God’s presence, the place of his manifest glory. This tiny unseen room corresponds to a person’s spirit, the innermost part of their being, supplying life to their soul and body. This is the original breath of God which is also his “image” and “glory.” This resides in all people. In the book of Job, it says that all flesh would cease to exist if God were to withdraw “his breath and his Spirit” (Job 34:14-15).
Every human is a temple. We were made to be a vessel for this divine spirit to flow like a river into our souls and then out through our physical bodies as a blessing of love, joy, and peace to the world around us.
Interestingly, within Solomon’s temple was a thick veil set up to block the way to that innermost room. This veil prevented people from seeing and experiencing the glory of God at its center. A giant piece of thick fabric was set up to communicate the same message as the Shulamite’s veil. They both speak to our spiritual prostitution.
Some readers will know that Solomon’s Temple was designed after an even older structure known as Moses’s Tabernacle. This tent also represented humanity as it wandered around the wilderness for 40 years. The veiled, wandering tabernacle also speaks to the same thing as the Shulamite. It is the life of going in circles, ever trying to find the promise of true life yet succumbing to fear and darkness along the way.
The Veil Hiding the Glory
Remember, this dark veil over our image-bearing heart has been calloused and hardened by an ancient deception. This is the original distortion of the music where we lost sight of Love’s true face—and our own face as well.
Part of what veil communicates is that we—both God and us—are dark and lovely. Though we may have some “good” to us, there is darkness and evil mixed in. This distorted perspective is what has left us in the dust, scrambling to search after completeness and rest in our own efforts. Such lies became an actual overpowering entity in our being. The scriptures call this “sin.” This word is often found as a noun, meaning it is not ultimately about bad actions, but a root force that could not be overcome in our own strength (a force that obviously leads to be unhealthy actions).
And that takes us back to the life-giving path paved in divine DNA that leads us to freedom. Jesus died to do what we could not do on our own; what religion and philosophy cannot do. He died to tear down the veil.
This is what is going on in that passage from Hebrews. It says that Jesus’s body became the veil. This is significant considering there’s another scripture saying Jesus “became sin” for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). The veil and sin are truly one in the same. Our core problem is that first lie of separation. It is also our unbelief in his grace-filled love. But both things are redeemed through Jesus’s death on the cross.
One aspect of how Jesus did this was in the life he lived which led up that sacrificial moment. Through the actions of his life, Jesus re-revealedboth the face of God and man. As perfect God and perfect man, Jesus demonstrated a compassion and grace that completely nixed any dark identity. Jesus showcased the true heart of the Father (and the true heart of his children), and this reached its fulfillment with his death on a cross.
That final act of dying demonstrated how God is not wrathful in the sense of condemning punishment. As the Lamb of God, Jesus redefined archaic and broken ideas about God’s wrath. His wrath is against that which is robbing his children of life. He came with a ferocious, lionlike love to rescue us. He did this with such passion that even if we resisted him by murdering him in that path, he would stretch out his arms and leave us with an eternal roar of forgiveness. This is why he is called both the Lion and the Lamb.
The Divine Mission
Though humanity was asleep in forgetfulness, having lost sight of God’s goodness (and our goodness as Image Bearers), Jesus came with a divine mission to lay down his life for us. He came as the kiss of God, waking us up from the spell of deception.
This is why the table of the Lamb is the only place where freedom is found. The cross is the only message that carries a sword sharp enough to cut through the thick fabric of our institutionalized deception.
Systems of religion can offer rituals and processes whereby we try and walk out what we feel to be true somewhere inside of us. There are exquisite philosophies that communicate grand ideas about the true self as well. Spiritual gurus talk about the light within and provide guidance on meditation and manipulations of the mind. But none can overcome the power of this inner veil. It is not until a person turns to the true source of Light that it gets dispelled.
Look carefully and thoughtfully at the following:
15 But even to this day, when Moses (the Law) is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:15-18 (parenthesis mine)
All of this is set before us at the communion table. It is there we turn to the Lord and behold his glory as in a mirror. We remember the truth of our union and partake of immeasurable goodness. Above all, we return to the true heart of our Father, who went so far as to lay down his life for us. As we confidently run back into his arms, the springs of life that have been locked away on the inside come rushing out of our innermost being.
We will find that this Song Solomon wrote is essentially one big encounter with this harmonious revelation—for this is truly the “kiss” the Shulamite is seeking. The revelation of the cross, the truth of God’s suffering love, the redemption of our true self. This is why the Song of Songs is the same as what scripture calls the Song of the Lamb.
And this is the reckoning that comes upon the hardness of human hearts, transforming the harlot wandering in the wilderness into a rising and promised Bride (Revelation 17-22).